No Ordinary Day , Tate, Harley [best ereader for pdf and epub .TXT] 📗

would she need to take? Was this the beginning, or was this a temporary dose of insanity? A movie where the ship threatens to capsize itself, but survives at the last moment. Deep in her gut, she knew the answer.

The door to the cabin swung open and Raymond stepped inside, arms laden with bags. One look at Emma and panic sharpened his focus. “Where’s Gloria? Is she alright?”

Emma pointed toward the bedroom. “She’s in there with one of John’s coworkers.”

Raymond dumped the bags on the floor and half-ran to the door.

“She’s got it under control,” Emma offered.

Raymond yanked the door to the bedroom so hard, the entire cabin shook. As Raymond ducked into the other room, John eased inside and set two handfuls of bags on the ground. Holly shot off the couch, wrapping her arms around John’s torso as she clutched him tight. John stood, arms out to his sides, unsure what to do.

“I thought you might never come back.” She sniffed back a wave of tears. “It was so scary. Just like my dad—” She broke down into a series of sobs and John gave her an awkward pat on the back.

“I’m fine, but it looks like you all aren’t.” He turned to Emma. “Are you all right?”

She shrugged. “I’ve been better. At least I know how bad that bullet hole feels.” She motioned toward his midsection before holding up her bandaged arm.

John swallowed. “How many?”

“Two that we know of. One is dead in the woods and one’s in there.”

John nodded. “I knew they would come, but I didn’t expect them so soon.” He pulled back from Holly, who still hugged him like a long-lost relative, and smiled down at her. “We bought a bunch of meat on sale. Help me put it away?”

The girl snuffed back a wave of snot as she nodded and together they unloaded the bags from Walmart, shoving package after package of meat into the fridge until the thing barely closed. As Holly set the handful of non-refrigerated food on the counter, heavy footsteps signaled Raymond’s return.

Emma sat quiet and still as Raymond stopped a foot away from John. His fists clenched and unclenched at his sides. One look at the man and Emma knew what was coming. She half-stood before a wave of nausea overcame her and she fell back down. “We need him, Raymond. He’s the only one who can help us deal with these people.”

 Gloria stepped out of the bedroom and joined the others. “Emma’s right. We need John, not only to help us prepare, but to get any information out of that guy. I tried but he won’t talk to me.”

Raymond ground his palm into his fist, cursing beneath his breath.

“I can get him to talk,” John offered, “one way or another.”

Emma shuddered, forcing her imagination to the back of her mind. She tried to smile at Raymond. “Any chance you could lend me your skills and dig this bullet out of my arm?”

Raymond glanced at his wife. “Only if someone tells me what happened.”

“Of course.” Gloria closed the distance between them, sliding her arm around Raymond’s sculpted waist. He stiffened, but his wife persisted until his shoulders eased and his arm slipped around her. “Don’t be angry at us, honey. Be angry at CropForward or the government or whoever sent these guys after us.”

Raymond’s head swiveled in John’s direction. “You’re sure you have no idea who hired you?”

John shook his head. “Dane never volunteered and I never asked.” He hesitated for a beat. “Doesn’t mean one of the other guys doesn’t know, though. Dane treated everyone differently. Some needed more hand-holding than others.”

“I’m telling you guys, it was the government.” Holly repeated her conclusion from earlier. “I believed the man who killed my father and you should, too.”

Raymond began to disagree, offering other theories, and Emma struggled to stay part of the conversation, pain and tequila dulling her ability to focus. She spoke up in the first lull. “About that bullet.”

“How deep is it?” Raymond disengaged from his wife and strode to the kitchen, pulling open a narrow drawer.

“I haven’t looked.” Just the thought of poking around in the meat of her shoulder turned Emma’s stomach. The combination of liquor, adrenaline and fear soured the contents. “One glimpse at that blood and tissue and I’d have puked all over your floor.”

He smiled as he held up a pair of tweezers. “Let’s hope these are big enough, then.”

Emma’s lips parted and her spit turned to grit. She glanced at Gloria. “Can you catch me if I pass out?”

Her friend pulled out the chair next to her and sat down. She took Emma’s good hand in her own and gave it a squeeze. “You can do this.”

“I don’t have a choice.”

John stood a few steps inside the door, watching the three of them. As Emma flicked her eyes toward his face, he turned to her. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here.”

She managed a tight smile. “It’s okay.”

His brow knit and he opened his mouth but stopped short. “I’ll be keeping watch. See if the guy in there wakes up.”

“Don’t get any ideas,” Raymond cautioned. “We still have all the weapons.”

John shot the back of Raymond’s head a withering look and headed toward the bedroom without another word. As he shut the door behind him, Emma twisted in the seat until her wound faced Raymond head-on. “You should stop assuming the worst of John.”

“You don’t know him.”

“I know him more than you do.”

Holly spoke up from her perch on the edge of the coffee table. “Emma’s right. He saved us more than once. He even went back for Tank and almost got himself killed for it. He’s not the same as these other guys, not even close.”

Raymond didn’t respond, opting instead to dip the tweezers in rubbing alcohol and set them on a paper towel. He pulled out a pair of nitrile gloves and tugged them on. “Ready?”

“Nope. But let’s do it anyway.” Emma squeezed Gloria’s hand as Raymond leaned forward and